[.ca] Is That You, Winter? (ISBN 0152024344)

From Amazon.com:
This book won the Minnesota Book Award, and, as the title may suggest, it's a Minnesota kind of book. Old Man Winter is an ornery ol' cuss in a rawhide hat, a kind of anti-Santa who spreads the fluffy white stuff across the land from the back of a magical flying truck. Stephen Gammell has won the Caldecott Medal and twice has been on the Caldecott honor list. His pastel-and-watercolor illustrations are richly colored, with a spiky quality that fits his grumbling hero perfectly. Purple and blue predominate--and white, of course--with the occasional smear of pale green. The text is extremely brief--rarely more than four or five words per double-page spread--and most of it is done by hand in a scratchy, irregular style that, like the illustrations themselves, are reminiscent of Ralph Steadman's deliberate messiness. Some will be amused, others perplexed by the surprise ending--Old Man Winter is no more (or less) than a young girl's doll! Either way, this exuberant romp is a vivacious, visually glorious tribute to winter. Click to see a sample spread. Illustration is from Is That You Winter?, copyright ©1997 by Stephen Gammell, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company. (Ages 3 to 6)

Wintry Reviews:
The story, Is that you, Winter?, is about a petulant, old man who brings snow to the land from the back of his truck. He questions and grumbles about why he has to go to work, but foremost, he wonders for whom he makes it snow. The tale in itself, though brief and concise, has a heart-warming ending. The art work in the book paints vivid images of the wintry landscape. The illustrations, done in colored pencils and watercolors, are a thrown-together mixture of light and dark shades. The swirling colors provide the rough, scratchy text with more meaning than the words could possibly convey on their own. The child may only see pretty pictures and hear an interesting story, but deeper meanings could be contrived from the story itself. The tale shows that no matter how disdainfully a person views their work, they may generate the snow that warms someone's heart. The book is excellent, and I recommend it to anyone who wishes to read an intriguing story.

The swirling, surprising treatment of paint to page exactly:
I love the handling of paint and color in this book. It goes so well with the character of Old Man Winter. The story as well as the illustrations are just the right surprising mix of cold and cranky, twisting and turning, swirling the reader right to the heart--just like Winter to do that!

May I introduce you to Old Man Winter?:
Who ever thought there really WAS an old man, Winter? This story certainly makes one a believer after meeting Winter, an old man who also happens to be very grumpy. His morning goes from bad to worse as he wakes up in a bad mood, misplaces his hat, misses breakfast, and struggles with the eternal question, "Why do I always have to go to work?". His day is "saved", however, when he crashes to the ground into the world of a little girl who thinks of him as very improtant. She even defends him from her teasing playmates and makes Winter feel special again. With friends like this one, one can hardly stay grumpy for long- not even Winter! The pictures are absolutely hilarious. From the cowboy-like Winter, sporting a handlebar mustache and a ten-gallon hat, to his snow-creating dump truck, one cannto help but smile. The splashes of color and white, done in pastels, pencils, and watercolors, make the reader feel like he or she has run right into Old Man Winter- Brrrr!

Intresting book:
Is That You, Winter? Is about an old, grumpy man who has to get up every day to go out and make it snow. While driving his truck of snow around, he begins to wonder for whom he makes it snow. Upon returning from his long day of work, he has a terrible accident and finds himself lying helpless in the snow. While the story in this book is amusing and well written, the illustrations do not seem to add to the experience of reading this book. The artwork appears to have been done by a five-year old. The colors seem to have been simply thrown onto the paper with no concern for what it is meant to look like. At times, the illustrations convey no sense of the emotions in the corresponding pages, and overall it seems that the illustrations were a mere afterthought thrown onto the pages in a rush. Perhaps a different method of illustrating would have added more to the telling of this book's story. However, even with the current illustrations, Is that You, Winter? is an interesting, and amusing story.

I found the story and artwork too captivating for words!:
The lettering bespoke this characters emotions wonderfully and the art work coincided to the story , like a match made in heaven!! Need I say more... I am creating my own books for children. Mr. Gammell is one of my idols. I enjoyed this book immensely.